State of the American Family

Educational divides and family stress

Educational divides in family patterns are also reflected in research by Dr. Kei Nomaguchi, associate professor of sociology, concerning the role of education in influencing stress for mothers.
It has been documented that mothers with a lower level of education experience more parenting stress since their families often struggle with access to resources. Working with Brown, Nomaguchi also found that mothers with a four-year college degree or more suffer from similar levels of stress in parenting, albeit from different sources.

“Mothers in both ends of the educational scale share similar views: U.S. society today is a more dangerous environment for children than when they grew up; and mothers should be involved in children’s lives,” said Nomaguchi. “These views cause mothers with lower levels of education more stress, as they may not have access to safe neighborhoods, good schools for children, or flexible work schedules that allow them to be home when children come home from school. In contrast, highly educated mothers experience stress because they invest a lot of time and energy in parenting to foster their children’s talents and skills, while they feel pressure to be occupationally successful. It’s a very difficult balance to make.”

Additional research conducted by Nomaguchi indicates that family stress is also divided by gender. Fathers today report wanting to spend more time parenting and feel more torn between work and family responsibilities than fathers in the 1970s. But fathers are much less likely than mothers to feel guilty and suffer emotionally when they do not meet this goal. “Fathers are increasingly feeling obligated to help out, but it is still mothers who take the primary child-care responsibilities,” said Nomaguchi.

First-time divorce rate tied to education, race

Educational divides also play a central role in new research from the NCFMR that shows substantial variation in the first-time divorce rate when it is broken down by race and education. But there is also evidence that a college degree has a protective effect against divorce among all races.

Among women in a first marriage, the rate of first divorce is highest for those who received some education after high school, but have not earned a bachelor’s degree — 23 per 1,000. The association between education and divorce is also curvilinear. The least (no high school diploma or GED) and the highest (college degree) educated women share the lowest rate of first divorce.

The association between education and the first-divorce rate remains consistent when factoring in race and ethnicity.

Facing old age alone

Understanding divorce patterns is important as startling new statistics from the center paint a bleak future for the largest generation in history, the baby boomers, as they cross into old age.
Dr. I-Fen Lin, an associate professor of sociology, and Brown found one-third of adults aged 45-63 are unmarried. This represents a more than 50 percent increase since 1980, when just 20 percent of middle-aged Americans were unmarried.

Lin said these unmarried boomers tend to be more vulnerable economically, socially and physically than their married counterparts. “They’re more likely to be poor and to be using public assistance, and they’re less likely to have health insurance but more likely to have a disability,” she said.

Kathy Mockensturm agrees that being alone makes you more vulnerable as you head toward old age. “I have never been married, so have learned to manage everything on my own,” she said. “This is definitely challenging when facing any kind of health or financial crisis. I see that my friends who are married have someone to help them when times get rough, and I wonder who I will turn to as I face the inevitable complications in the years ahead.”  

“This all raises questions about who is going to provide for them as they become frail and infirm. And the answer is not entirely clear,” said Brown. “In the past, family members, particularly spouses, have provided care to older adults. But a growing share of older adults aren’t going to have a spouse or child available to rely on for support. These shifting family patterns portend new strains on existing institutional supports for the elderly. As more singles enter older adulthood, who will care for those people, how will the emotional and financial costs of that care be shared — and what can society do to prepare for this demographic tsunami?”